The ?rst and foremost goal of this lecture series was to show the
beauty, depth and usefulness of the key ideas in computer science. While
working on the lecture notes, we came to understand that one can
recognize the true spirit of a scienti?c discipline only by viewing its
contributions in the framework of science as a whole. We present
computer science here as a fundamental science that, interacting with
other scienti?c disciplines, changed and changes our view on the world,
that contributes to our understanding of the fundamental concepts of
science and that sheds new light on and brings new meaning to several of
these concepts. We show that computer science is a discipline that
discovers spectacular, unexpected facts, that ?nds ways out in seemingly
unsolvable s- uations, and that can do true wonders. The message of this
book is that computer science is a fascinating research area with a big
impact on the real world, full of spectacular ideas and great ch-
lenges. It is an integral part of science and engineering with an
above-average dynamic over the last 30 years and a high degree of
interdisciplinarity. The goal of this book is not typical for popular
science writing,
whichoftenrestrictsitselftooutliningtheimportanceofaresearch area.
Whenever possible we strive to bring full understanding of the concepts
and results presented.
